MH-210 Qua - ForgetaboutQua’s debut Forgetabout is not easily categorized. Listening to the albums 13 tracks it is not hard to forgetabout the plethora of electronica sub-genres that could claim ownership to Qua’s music. In fact, aspects of the album don’t even sound all that electronic, drawing upon elements of world music, folk, and rock with a seamless grace. Cool keys, warm guitars, and pristine digital editing are all equals in Qua’s production. The found-sound field recordings that are present throughout the album are just as important as the expert musicianship. Skillfully crafted throughout, there can be no doubt that Forgetabout is a startling debut, and a sign of great things to come from a unique and talented artist.

Tracklist

01. Little Branches & Little Birds

02. Monkey Sleep

03. Vienna

04. Broadcast

05. 800x600

06. Forgetabout

07. 8tk

08. Robot Unknown

09. Duet For Guitar And Fridge

10. Generating Set

11. Sys_Environment

12. The Air Is Thin In Here

13. Oneiric

Release Details

Release Date: 07/16/2002

Running Time: 61:31

Download/Available/$7.00

CD/Available/$10.00

LOSSLESS/Available/$10.00

Territory: World Excluding Australia

Reviews Summary

Forgetabout is a thoroughly enjoyable electro-acoustic record - Grooves / Qua has brought a new level of craftsmanship to Australian electronica - Cyclic Defrost / Charming, innocent and enticing - Vibewire / Exceptional debut album - Substrata / A great achievement, hurrah! - Stumblings in the Dark

Featuring rich, playful soundscapes that are simultaneously intricate in design and of a piece with the longstanding lo-fi Mush Records aesthetic, Forgetabout is a thoroughly enjoyable electro-acoustic record that is tangentially aligned with the folktronica subgenre. While the album relies heavily on experimentation in terms of rhythmic structure, its adherence to conventional melody connects it, however tenuously, to the IDM tradition. Tracks such as “Broadcast” recall artists like Jega, Arovane, and occasionally, Boards of Canada, dense as they are with shimmering electronic textures and inorganic sound sources. The album’s opener, “Little Branches & Little Birds,” itself borrows from Aphex Twin’s unorthodox and idiosyncratic approach to rhythm programming by substituting subtle, skipping digital errors and cracked, arcane digitalia for actual percussion. But while several tracks, such as the mutant funk abstraction of “8tk,” keep Qua’s tracks firmly rooted in experimentalism, other pieces on Forgetabout borrow liberally from the rock and blues lexicons (the tongue-in-cheek “Duet for Guitar and Fridge” being the most obvious example). The gorgeous arrangement of various guitar phrases and haunting lap steel on “Vienna” renders it a mesmerizing but fairly conventional piece as well. The track ends with a gentle koto figure that serves as a fitting denouement, and subsequently adds even more diversity to the record’s already varied sonic palette. - Grooves